Im trying to get into it, Im pretty much much a Football and Basketball guy. This sport is hard to get into, someone help me understand why they end the games in a tie? Couldnt they penalty kick it like they do in later round games?

Well, you end it in a tie because of how the outcome of games are rewarded. You get 2 points for a win and each team get 1 point for a draw. If you loose you get 0 points.

If you for example have the look at the group play in the World Cup each team will consist of 4 teams playing 3 games each.

Germany and Italy would advance to the next round since they have the most points and therefore you might not need to win a certain game. This adds a strategic wrinkle to the game since it allows team to go out and for example defend a 0-0 result in order to secure 1 point and advance to the next round.

If Germany and Brazil would have played a draw in my example 3 teams would end up with the same points and then you would look at goals scored and such.